"We share this body," the voice whispered to him, within his skull. "You are merely an observer as long as I am awake. I am in control. Henceforth, I dwell in this body."
"I want to sleep."
"You will learn that your mind can sleep while your body does not. And the body interests me, human. The body is capable of strong emotion. I want to feel that emotion."
The place, Steve realized later, was a sort of proving-grounds. He felt himself walking, walking. He reached the edge of a cliff, stared down from giddy heights. He felt himself teetering on the edge, saw jagged rocks far below him. He jumped. He did not want to, but he jumped.
"We'll be killed!" he cried, icy fear making his heart pound.
"That is fear," said the voice in his skull. "That is wonderful fear. So strong—"
Something cushioned their fall, slowly. It was that, Steve knew. Their fall, not his alone. For the creature shared it with him.
He tumbled, but slowly, like a feather, like a wraith of fog. He alighted on the rocks with hardly a jar, cushioned by some advanced application of a force-field. A large cube of metal was there to convey them to the top once more.
After that, he became giddy. He did not know why, but the impulse to laugh was too strong to resist. He laughed until it grew painful, laughed until the tears came to his eyes.
"That is joy," said the voice. "I can instill joy in you. But the way you express it, that is unique. More!"